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Dec. 30KoreaComments Off on [Korea] 5 Key Trends for 2009? ⑤ Browser-Based Games

This is the fifth and the last installment of the five-part series: Browser-based games.

Browser-based games seem to be a hit in Korea. From a publisher’s view, browser-based games are compatible even with low-spec PCs as long as they are connected with Internet. On top of that, relatively short?development time, low server?operation?costs, no limit on CCUs, low publishing costs all played in favor of?browser-based game frenzy in 2009.

It seems a perfect fit especially for portal operators who would love to expand their lineup with low cost browser-based games. As a result, Chinese games that already developed enough contents are expected to roll out fast in Korea.

Browser-based games became a necessity for major publishers in Korea; NCsoft has?Murim Empire (무림제국: Kor) and Battle Hero (not in service yet) in its pipeline, while Nexon has 熱血三國 (열혈삼국: Kor, not in service), SONOV has Berkanix, Aeon Soft has 武林英雄 (무림영웅: Kor) and Castle of Heroes, Actoz Soft has 縱橫天下 (종횡천하: Kor). Mgame also announced its expansion plan for browser-based games.

<Aeon Soft’s?Castle of Heroes>

Suhee Lee, a CEO of Joara, discussed the current trend of the browser-based game’s success at Korea Games Conference (KGC) 2009. “The market size of Korean browser-based games is estimated at 3 billion Won (US$ 2.3 million), which is considerably small compared to the online gaming market. ?7th Dragon (칠용전설: Kor) which is considered as the most successful game in the genre makes only 200~300 million Won (US$ 154,000~231,000) per month,” Lee explained. “However, the major publishers plan to introduce more than 10 games this year alone and probably more than 100 browser-based games next year. Under the circumstance, the market is expected to grow fast next year.”

<NCsoft’s Murim Empire>

* I couldn’t find English titles of some games here and would appreciate if anyone would help me on that.

This is the second installment of the five-part series: Anything zombie.

The trend started with Counter Strike Online: Zombie 3 and Left4Dead 2, then it took off as other companies added zombie characters in their games such as Nexon America’s Combat Arms, Sonov’s Project D, WeMade’s Gem Fighter, GameHi’s Zombie Online, Nexon’s Bubble Fighter and BnB. It turned out that players loved the fight against the undead.

<Counter Strike Online>

Introducing zombies into the games brought the horror aspect into the simple match. “Zombies naturally play perfect?villains??thanks to its horror and freakish strength. Especially for FPS games, it created a whole new game between player vs. zombie rather than the old player vs. player. Also, the game is not just about one-shot-one-kill anymore. You can fire up all your weapon to kill zombies. And that’s a different kind of fun,” explained an industry insider.

Shaiya, a MMORPG developed by Sonov and published by Aeria Games in North America and Europe, is going to be available in Turkish as well. The CBT date is not announced yet but you can sign up at the Turkish website.

SONOV, Korean developer of Shaiya (샤이야: Kor), Dragonsky (용천기: Kor), and Neo (네오 온라인: Kor), unveiled its much-anticipated new game Berkanix (베르카닉스: Kor) today. ?Here are some numbers that the company wants to impress you with; the game has been developed by in-house studio of 100 engineers and designers for three years and spent more than US$7.7 million.

The company also plans to introduce a web browser-based game and comic books as well.